Engineering and manufacturing

Selling an engineering or manufacturing business

Updated November 2026

Engineering and manufacturing firms are built on skilled people, reliable machinery and customers who come back for years. A sale should protect all three.

Harbour One Group buys established UK engineering, fabrication, precision and manufacturing businesses whose owners are planning retirement or the next step.

What makes an engineering business attractive

• Long-standing customers and repeat or scheduled work
• A skilled workforce, ideally with apprentices coming through
• Well-maintained machinery, owned or on manageable finance
• Quality accreditations such as ISO 9001 where your customers expect them
• A workshop or production manager who can run the floor without you

What owners tell us they worry about

Owners of engineering firms usually ask the same things: will the team be kept on, will customers still get the same quality and lead times, and will someone keep investing in the machines. We plan for each of those before any terms are agreed.

Preparing to sell

Gather three years of accounts, an up-to-date list of machinery with its condition and any finance attached, and a summary of your main customers and how long you have worked with them. If the premises are yours, decide whether you want to sell them or rent them to the new owner.

What stays the same

We buy businesses to keep them, not to sell them on. In most cases the name, the team and the way you look after customers stay as they are, with group support in finance, HR and systems added behind the scenes.

What we look for

• UK-based and independently owned
• Roughly £120k to £20m turnover
• Generally £100k or more in annual EBITDA
• An established trading history
• Owners planning succession, retirement or a change of direction

Every business is assessed individually, so if yours sits slightly outside these figures it is still worth a conversation.